A review GWlegal boasts about – but the complainant is not proud of the firm’s work

Senior property professionals have condemned a scandalous delay of more than seven months to purchase a South Wales house, The Eye can reveal.

One, the Estate Agent who sold the property, Andrew Gregory of PM Premier in Cardiff with 12 years experience said: “This is an unbelievable delay.

“I’ve never known anything like it.”

The lawyer handling the case at Cardiff’s Hek Jones insisted: “This has just taken far too long.

Andrew Gregory – ‘unbelievable’

“We normally wrap things up in a few weeks.”

Most property purchases (or completions as they are known) are secured after six to eight weeks, once legal work and searches are finalised.

However the mortgage offer to complete with this house on Manor Way in Cardiff, was first made on December 4, and there were two extensions subsequently.

Hek Jones accepted instructions for the sale on October 3.

Lynne McCaffrey – likes to keep things ‘confidential’

But completion eventually took place on Friday.

The mortgage company’s solicitor, based in Liverpool, GWlegal, first despatched a ‘requirements’ letter on December 7 with a lengthy list of issues to be resolved before the money could be released, but sent other demands subsequently.

The mortgage company, Precise, have now launched a formal investigation.

Keeping things confidential

During the controversy the complainant, who says he has lost thousands of pounds in rental income, was met with a brick wall in pursuing his inquiry.

GWlegal said it could not release information because of ‘client confidentiality’ even though the requirements lists had been sent to the complainant’s own solicitor.

Admiral House – very different

Lynne McAffrey, the Head of Property at the firm said: “As solicitors our duty is to our client (Precise) and to preserve confidentiality we are unable to discuss the file any further with you”.

Yet GWlegal describes itself as: “A law firm with over 30 years’ experience”, and asks: “How can we help?”.

In contrast a property sale ‘completion’ has just been made for the same complainant on another property in Admiral House on Newport Road in Cardiff, also through the Estate Agent PM Premier and with the solicitor firm Hek Jones in the city, even though the offer was accepted months later.

Yet it seems not all property sales run as smoothly.

Some take seven months, as a few property lawyers can testify…

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